Description

In Final Countdown the player takes the role of Laira Tyrik who is the commander of a space station. However, she is near an mysterious asteroid which threatens to destroy Earth. So she goes out to investigate and she finds an apparently deserted space station. She has to investigate all floors to be able to save Earth.

The main challenge of the game is to find a way through the maze-like corridors of each floor. Laira can either walk or use her jet pack for vertical movement which takes fuel. She also needs to watch our for obstacles like electrified bars which block certain passages and droids which are best avoided because of they see Laira, the time limit is shortened or they try to kill her. She has no weapons except for mines which have to be found on the station: laying the on the ground causes everyone to die who walks over them (including Laira). There are also other pieces of equipment to find, e.g. extra fuel.

Laira also often has to operate computer terminals to gain information and open closed passages, e.g. by opening doors, activating elevators or deactivating traps. While most of the game is shown from the side, the game switches to a first-person view and player has to type in commands to interact with the terminal; similar to using DOS. The terminal understands 13 commands which are explained in the manual. Mistakes in operating the system may result in an alarm and therefore a time penalty.